Client’s constraining factors to construction project management success in Nigeria: a systems analytical approach

Abstract

This study analyzed client’s related factors that constrain project management success of public and private sector construction in Nigeria. Issues that concern clients in any project can not be undermined as they are the owners and the initiators of project proposals. It is assumed that success, failure or abandonment of projects lay squarely in their hands. This is very relevant as any constrain to the success in the construction sector has a multiplier effect on the overall economic growth of the nation. The construction of Imo State secretariat by ten different construction firms, the construction of Owerri Onitsha road and the construction of Oceanic Bank building along Douglas Road Owerri are few examples of public (Government) and private (Organization)clients. The empirical analysis is based on these projects and many other related ones. The findings will help stakeholders in the industry to plan and execute successful projects thereby reducing the rate at which projects fail, abandoned and or collapse in Nigeria. However, clients related factors can not assure project management success in the construction industry as an index without a holistic analysis of other constraining factors from other subsystems. Data analyses on the subject were computed based on their Relative Relevance Indices of Attribute. Factor analysis was used to collapse the variables to fewer but interrelated variables. The major finding is that the client factors exact high level negative influence to success in the construction project management in Nigeria especially in the public sector.

Key words: Project success, Client’s constraints, Factor analysis